El Mirage

On the other side of the San Gabriel mountains, 2 hours from LA, there's this other world location, El Mirage. This dry lake is used for off road recreation and car advert filming.

On a few weekends through year, the SCTA host speed trials. It can be seen as the little brother to the Salt Flats of Bonneville, same organization run both. This was taken just after dawn as crews ready their home-made machines to push past 200mph.

To stay in racing classifications, some of these machines are derived from pre-war car parts. If you look closely, you can spot the cab from a 1930s Ford which now serves as the engine bay, the driver sits where the engine was originally.